he is plain sucking regarding his football skills, seems fit, but clouncy as they come...he was too much regular for too much time, who knows...

 

Do you think there is a slight chance that after his great display in WC06 he was actually way over hyped? Just a thought.

 

it has nothing to do at all..the question has to do with his perfromances in Aleti and even if you want, in his last season in Espanyol, those were at least three seasons with a great level of Maxi even if he never was saint of my devotion due to other style of players I preffer above him...

The only thing that has to do with the WC06 to some extent is that after that WC and after his great Aleti year, he was asked to be a leader in a football sense he never was...


BTW his last match wasn't that bad, but he is missing those chances that in the past he scored...that takes confidence too...

 

Just because he is not scoring in 4:0 victories?!

Mhhm as long as he scores in the 1:0 victories ... I am fine!

 

He shines in WC06 in... 2006. Does well in 06/07. Does not well in 07/08, and crap all in 08/09 to this day... sounds like another hyped Argie alright.

 

???

07/08 he was forced to the stands because of a knee injury ... in the games he was able to play ... he had more goals than Torres!

Last season he played also very well if you have in mind that he had such a tough injury!

 

Well ok he didnt have a very good season last year that you can admit, but to call him overhyped is just stupid, he is a very good player, he will get through this bad moment im sure

 

2005 2006 Atlético Madrid 28 (games) 10 (goals)
2006 2007 Atlético Madrid 10 (games) 6 (goals)
2007 2008 Atlético Madrid 35 (games) 8 (goals)

Well IMO this is more than fine!

 

While 8 goals is a good number for a winger, if scoring goals is all a player is going to do then he better score AT LEAST 15. Maxi didn't contribute much else aside from those 8 goals. Simao scored less than him yet had a much better year.

 

The thing is taht Maxi ain't a winger, and that's precisly why he isn't my cup of tea...he is (or was) the wet dream of polivalence many coaches have...

He is more like a mid that plays in a flank than a winger, or even a second forward more than a winger. In his carreer Maxi even had roles of mediapunta or playmaker and all his tasks, he does it with grit and great sacrifice in making relevos and defensive duties...right now Maxi doesn't know what role suits him better...the best Maxi was the young kid in Newell's, there he played wit a lot of joy with the sacrifice he allways had...then he had very good professional stages in Europe and the NT, but was already another Maxi, the Maxi with lots of intangibles that coaches love to have...

But the prior is an analysis of his capabilties and style, not a resume of his current level, right now he is more about intangibles and team contribution tactically, than him being in his best form.

 

Ok whatever he is...winger, midfielder, second striker. I you're not a goal-scorer (20+) you need to do other things than scoring an occasional goal to be valuable to a team. I don't see Maxi making good passes or contributing much on defense. He's just invisible out there.

 

I agree about the defensive part. The full back behind him definitely will always get a lot if help. Simao is not bad at that too, but Maxi is just insane. IMO he could even be useful in a 3-5-2.

The problem this season is basically the goals. If he manages his usual 8-10 goals a season no one will complain IMO. Aand his goals are often game winners.

 

Van, not only the goals, like Prodigy says here, he ain't being accurate in his passes and he ain't dribbling that much, but like I said as long as he keeps at least his workrate and positioning, with all he already gave to Aleti, Aguirre will respect his place anyway...

PD: que te paso el otro dia con el post sobre el partido argentina , peru? te volviste loco jaja, no entendiste un soto lo que quise decir jaja sos un personaje!! ja

 

Maxi used to come up with important goals for Atlético when the rest of our strikers had problems with the goalscoring. He's got an excellent shot, great working rate but I've never seen him as a natural winger. Sure, he may not dribble a lot but can still find openings in a the oppositions defences with good runs.

He's more of a supporting striker to me than winger and I like the his versatility.

As for him not being the same any longer; I still think he may be suffering from that horrendous injury against Spain, it may be something mentally. I'd say that it's a mixture of that and the fact that he's got a lot more responsability in defence than for an example Simão. That captains armband has never been any good, it wasn't very good to Torres and it's kind of forced Maxi to play a lot more defensive than we're wishing to see.

I'm used to see him play like this now, it's been a season now since I saw the real Maxi in action during a consistent period, he's still showing glimpses of his best sides, but it's obviously tougher for him to play more freely considering he's the one who should be taking responsability and I can't blame him for that.

 

Injuries have a weight of course and he had some awuful ones, but is more related to the ambard and that in the meantime other players earn the spotlight without it...more than anything is the problem of coaches and their idea of trying to have players that make 6 roles, with time many of those end not knowing what is his best role or what is expected from him...I saw it too many times...

in any case Maxi will allways be a great Robin, a great auxuliary wheel that has the capability of showing himself in the highest stage, but never a Batman sort of player...he doesn't have neither the talent, neither the brains to do it.

 

again is always better than never bambino...he is only overhype (you like that fancy word nope, he) if you think of him as genius or awesome talnet, hee ain't but he is a very good player with a great carreer so far

 

I do understand you're point, Fangio.

I can't say that you're wrong either because Maxi hasn't been the same since he came back from that horrendous injury. The guy doesn't have that immense talent which Agüero has, but he's always been maximizing his performances.

However, he has only been playing in two positions during his time at Atlético; winger, supporting striker and central midfielder (at very rare ocassions, maybe 2-3 times) so I don't think it's fair to say that he has lost his role.

 

I'm just saying that is not only the injury, is ahs to do also with his role, hsi style, mind set and all to wear the ambard...I think that even worse, after an injury, to be the captain, was to much pressure for him, plus what coaches ask to him doesn't help either, he has to fullfill to many areas, while not being an extraordinary player...nevertheless, how many can complain of him being captain being such a hardworking down to earth dude? close to nobody...he jsut need to score one or two, regain confidence, ans sweep his zone like he almos allwys did in his carreer...the wrong thing will be:

- expecting to be Rattin sort of captain
- expecting to be a real looney winger
- expecting to make dinner, the laundry, an ****ing every rival in front.

maybe with other players, having the invisible ambard of captain, like Maniche, forlan or even Aguero to name a few, in an strict football sense, he can still be the locker room captain and hard work example, while regaining form in an strict football sense...he deserves the patience of the world in this Aleti.

 

Fangio, we all know Maxi as a player. We know he's not a pure winger or a "batman" type of player. We know he won't do fancy dribbles or direct an offense. All we're saying is that he's a better player than he showed last year or this year. The only thing that's changed about his role is that now that he's captain he's expected to be a leader in the locker room, his role on the pitch is still the same. I don't buy that the captain armband is what's responsible for his dip in form.

 

I insist in that the goals are the key. If he wins a couple of games on his own (1-0 long shot), nobody will have a problem.

Thing is that in don't really see a drop in form to the point that it could be an issue.

Fangio, todo el escenario ese de Vargas y Maldini ya me parecía denigrante y me calentó y seguro por eso interpreté mal el asunto. Y porque estaba :stoned:

 

If all you pay attention to are goals then you're missing a lot of the things that make football great.

 

he is saying on contrair Prodigy and he ain't wrong in a general sense, Europe even more than SA is more about goals and numbers, than anywhere, soe when he starts scoring again, the critics will be left behind, even if he ios playing just like right now in the mremaining aspects...

the difference between Van's opinion and yours and mine, is that:

- Van thinks he is doing fine, just lacking goals...
- you think he is palying like shit...
- and I'm somewhere in between, closer to your opinion and just ranted about the characteristics and role of Maxi in the middle, plus how much I hate the so call polivalence search of coaches.

 

Even in Europe, where goal numbers are regarded more highly, you cannot afford to be all about goals unless you're a 20-goal scorer. If all you do over a 38 game season is score 8-10 goals then you're hurting the team more than you're helping it. So even if Maxi starts scoring his usual number of goals, as long as he's not doing the other small things he used to do, he will not be a good player.

 

It is that I don't actually think that Maxi ever offers much more than a lot of hard work and important goals. His technique is fine, his speed, the passing is good, in a lot of things he is ok to good but not brilliant... But I don't think he has dropped dramatically at these things really. Maybe a bit.

What has changed is that he does not score all these game winners IMO.

A goalscoring midfielder is less important when your attackers are on fire anyway.

 

Another match of Maxi' no show. Maybe we should make Ujfalusi as captain.

 

To be fair. Not many people showed up.

 

i say this from a long time ago and you al laugh at me and say im crazy....maxi sucks, when all this teams like milan, manchester wanted him after the world cup for crazy money i said we should sell him and buy other players but we think he could play like how in the world cup forever

 

But you were wrong man, you wanted a true winger, sthg Maxi isn't, won't be...and you wanted Joaquin that like Reyes (and almost any true winger, they are very particular persons) is a roller coaster of one season cool, two seasons nothing not allways because of his fault (few coaches can manage talented wingers and their mood)...so many telling you that was mad to get rid of a very solid and great player for Aleti in those years for a player that was playing below par, wasn't a crazy statement..Maxi igual te decimos loco por otras cosas personaje!, que te guste Joaquin dentro de todo es buen gusto..

 

Finally a good game for him in his more usuall form...let's hope he regains confidence..still like Van said, he must score some important goals

 

How was he Fangio? I didn't get to see the game.

 

Assisted the first goal which Kun scored, then passed worked hard as always but was going a lot more 1-on-1 this time. He nearly scored one hell of a goal by backheeling the ball, but it went wide of Mandandas goal, would've easily been the finest goal in this round.

Good game by Maxi, stepped up when needed and that's what Atlético needs the most at the moment.

 

That's good to hear. Hopefully he keeps it up. An in-form Maxi would be a huge boost to this team, especially with all the injuries and the tough schedule.

 

He scored another beauty today but pity he had to be taken off due to that groin injury.Hopeful that he would be back for the Real game.

 

are you getting rid of him? any news in Spain?

 

He wasn't even on the bench tonight so I reckon he'll be sold or loaned out like predicted earlier. Let's just remember another of Cerezo's famous quotes; "Abel will be the coach of Atlético until the end of this season.." - It lasted two weeks, then he was gone, I reckon it's a done deal until next week :howler: